IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PRIVATE INVESTORS

Our investments place your capital at risk. We do not provide investment, tax or legal advice and we recommend you seek professional advice if you are considering investing with us. You may lose part or all of the amount you invest with us. We invest in unquoted shares in small companies. The value of these shares can be volatile, and the shares are often difficult to sell. The tax reliefs associated with our investments depend on the individual circumstances of each investor and may be subject to change. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Our forecasts and performance targets cannot accurately predict how investments will perform.

Oxford Capital has access to privileged investment opportunities through our network of entrepreneurs, advisers, professional investors and clients with whom we have nurtured relationships for many years. We invest in tech-enabled companies across a wide variety of industry sectors, looking for venture capital, EIS qualifying deals in the early stage market – where a great deal of the product and business model innovation is occurring, but which has actually seen a reduction in recent years in the number of companies funded.

Access to deal flow is essential to our philosophy that quantity leads to quality. Typically, we review over 2000 potential investment deals per year and expect this to be close to 3000 this year. We see 70% of industry deals in our sector (Crunchbase). And we are able to invest in 83% of the deals we want to, partly because are successful at building strong relationships with entrepreneurs; We use the Net Promoter Score framework (an index ranging from -100 to 100 that measures the willingness of customers to recommend a company’s products or services to others) to gauge our interactions. We have a Net Promoter Score of 78 (anything above 70 has been called ‘first class’), taking into account input and feedback from all the entrepreneurs we meet, not just those we have invested in, but also others that we decided not to invest in. (August 2018). Many of the sectors we consider are young and those working in them form a small community and we know from experience that they not only talk about funders, but recommend them too.

For us, being an active manager is not just about working with our investees to maximise their chances of success (although we do) or being energetic in the market (although we are – Oxford Capital is the 3rd most active UK VC firm in terms of number of investments made (Crunchbase 2016/17)). It’s also about continually expanding our knowledge base and staying up to date with the latest developments.

We regularly review and refine our internal processes to ensure that we are not standing still and this involves a healthy measure of proactivity, whether or not the investee companies approach us; We follow a ‘top down’ approach, first completing extensive due diligence on the sector / theme, before considering individual companies and each member of the ventures team is responsible for focusing on specific themes.

At the moment, they include fintech and digital health, artificial intelligence and machine learning and an individual team member is tasked with doing a deep dive into each of these markets. They go to conferences, meet with business accelerators and incubators that assist young companies, research and map out the incumbents, the newcomers and the ideas and technology. The intention is for that person to become recognised as being interested in the sector, as well as regarded as an expert in that space. Gaining visibility through speaking at conferences and writing thought leadership pieces in the industry press gives them credibility. It also makes them attractive to innovators looking for funding.

Geographical coverage is also important. We think that the UK is a great place to start a technology business and that’s not just in London. So, as well as keeping a constant watch on the London market, we bring a regular focus to other UK tech hubs such as Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol and Edinburgh.

We work hard to ensure that as many as possible of the deals that are relevant to our investment strategy are fed into the top of our deal funnel. We know that the vast majority will not make it to investment stage and will be weeded out during our due diligence process. But this leaves us with what we want – a high calibre of the best opportunities for our investors.

For more information about the exciting opportunities available through the Oxford Capital Growth EIS, click here.

OXFORD OFFICE

The investments referred to on this website will place your capital at risk. Oxford Capital Partners LLP’s products and funds invest in unlisted companies which are likely to be harder to value and sell than quoted shares. Please note that tax reliefs are dependent on investors’ individual circumstance and are subject to change. Where reference is made to past or future performance this should not be taken as a reliable indicator of future results. Oxford Capital Partners LLP does not provide advice and the information on this website should not be construed as such. Investors should seek advice from a regulated adviser.

At Oxford Capital we have quickly adjusted to the ‘new normal’ of working within the restrictions of Covid-19. All of our team are working effectively from home, and our operations are carrying on as normal. The health and wellbeing of our colleagues and their loved ones remains paramount and we are focused not only on maintaining business as usual but on keeping morale high in an environment of much less social interaction. We recently welcomed our first remote new hire and our team has rallied in supporting her induction. We recognise the challenges of juggling home and work life at the moment, and are touched by the positive attitude and adaptability with which everyone has responded. The technology of Teams, Skype and Zoom has become routine for daily interactions both inside and outside the firm, and we are communicating with clients, founders and business partners as usual. We have also enjoyed getting to know better the children, partners and pets of our colleagues and friends, bringing moments of laughter, joy and humanity.

Clients’ investments are being managed as normal by our investment team. We continue to attend portfolio board meetings and other meetings as usual, albeit remotely. Many of the usual business events and conferences that we are used to participating in are being hosted online and we participate and contribute as normally as we can.

It is important during times of such uncertainty to remember that investing in small private companies is a long-term activity. We seek to guide and support our founders and portfolio companies through their respective challenges, drawing on our own experience of past crises and on good teamwork. Following an intense period of working with our portfolio companies to assess the impact of Covid-19, we have supported action where required to take early measures to reduce costs and extend cash runways. Much of our thinking is now turned to the positioning of companies for long term opportunities as the market takes a leap forwards in accelerating digital transformation in many sectors of the economy, often building on trends that pre-existed the crisis. Many of the companies in the portfolio have demonstrated their commitment to social responsibility by supporting the NHS and key workers, governments and supporting their own staff and families. We support these efforts simply as they are the right thing to do.

At Oxford Capital we continue as normal whilst anticipating the next “new normal”. No employees have been furloughed. We are fortunate to work in a business which is willing to help others. We do our best to support each other and our loved ones, just as we endeavour to support our investee companies. We salute Captain Tom for his extraordinary fund raising efforts. We also recognise the efforts of our portfolio companies and so many entrepreneurs as they navigate the Covid-19 challenges. We hope that these efforts will contribute to the success of our nation’s economic revival and to value for our investor-clients.